Overlooking the gorgeous scenery of the sea, a little girl covered with deep blue coloured batik sarong is calmly seated on the boat enjoying the sea breeze. Perhaps the girl’s name is Norshira. A sweet name complemented her short hair and cute features. For this versatile Singapore second-generation artist, figures (portraits) and nudes, landscapes, Singapore River scenes, street scenes and still-lifes are some of his favourite subjects to paint. Koeh Sia Yong is one of the few surviving stalwarts of Singapore’s cult Equator Art Society (formerly Chinese Research Society) which had a huge impact with its Social Realism narratives, and Koeh particularly for Persecution (1963) and murals for the Sentosa Wax Museum on the atrocities of the Japanese Occupation. He graduated from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, specialising in Western Painting in 1958, and worked as graphic designer, illustrator, newspaper cartoonist and movie billboard painter for Shaw Brothers. He is also known for his dossier on the Bukit Ho Swee squatter settlement fire (May 25, 1961).